Oh I just love this continuing saga. Most entertaining and thanks for lightening my days!!!

Penny and Freckles - the WArren Girls'
Star and Flopsy (the latter of the floppy comb) both members of the White Star Faction.
Fedora and Florence the Cream Legbars
Emily (see Emily lay) and Erica the Light Sussex babes
1 current husband aka the structural engineer
1 large organic allotment
The Lady Isabella Pickford-Fiennes, a feline of distinction and excellent mouser

Still maybe someone will look back at my posts and glean some sort of information from the lol.

I should add I am actually serious about getting chickens and looking after them to the best of my ability, which is why I am not just jumping at the first house or agreeing with said bloke about everything!

I have tried with sheds and it's been a no-no. Even recycling stuff - he is just scared I think that he will cock it up. He is very clever making things but has not had much success at structures with wood in the past.

Spoken to Little Acre and they say this is their longest made and best selling house. It is dip treated with both wood preserver and fungicide and painted either nut brown or green. They said the current preserver should last around 2 years before it needs retreating - but I may just get some cuprinol and do a couple of extra coats.

I have been in touch with our local man for birds and I am going on a scouting mission in a couple of weeks to have a chat with him and see which birds I like in the flesh. I am going to start slowly purchasing bits and pieces ahead of the run being built and the chooks being purchased.

My birthday, which is what all this is about, (my present), is at the end of June. I am not sure I will get my chooks by then OH has to prepare the gardens and courtyards at work for their garden party, so run building will be on hold til after then.

I am quite excited now. It's all slowly coming together. I have wanted chickens all my life but spent the first 40yrs of my life stuck in a flat with mum, so now I have moved and have a garden, Chooks are Go!

Ok. We had a row. Even though I have offered to sell things to fund some wire mesh, he doesn't want " it looking like a concentration camp in the garden" and is going to use doubled chicken wire with trellis going about 3ft up the sides so things can be grown on them. I do not know what his problem with welded mesh wire is. His words: "a fox won't eat through wooden trellis".

Actually he has a point. For years I used 3' wire netting - expensive, heavy gauge, with smallish holes, with a further 2' of black pond netting threaded on to 6' bamboos which went through the netting (to hold them upright) & about a foot into the ground. Pond net comes 6' wide & is fun to cut to 2 'widths! Being black, it doesn't show, and foxes are somewhat disconcerted should they try to jump what they assume to be a 3' fence. Obviously if you're building a chicken cage, you won't need the extra height. Last time I used the 3' wire netting I covered the top with fruit netting which I ordered from Knowle Nets at the size I wanted. It meant I could remove either the whole or part if I needed to get into the pen for any reason. Chicken don't need 6', but you do need to be able to get in occasionally and stand upright. Climbing plants grow happily up netting - bindweed in particular.

Well he may have a point but I have just spoken to him at work. The family he works for had lost their dog the other week. The previous estate manager who was very close to the dog, buried him. 2 days later one of the stable girls had to have her dog pts due to old age. My OH buried him about 6ft down. He is intact. The other bloke only dug a grave about a foot down. The Fox had it and he is currently up to his elbows in entrails and the dog's partially decomposed body. It's funny how life happens. My OH was very very fond of the dog and he was crying down the phone. I just said "well sorry to say that is Mr Fox for you". He then waffled on about you don't not take proper precautions when it comes to dead animals and foxes and my reply was "and live ones!".

Unlike some people my chickens will be egg laying pets. I cannot take then on knowing they are not as safe as possible. To me that would be like attaching them to the run wire so they can't move and leaving the run door open 24/7.

PixieDust wrote:
Unlike some people my chickens will be egg laying pets. I cannot take then on knowing they are not as safe as possible.

I don’t quite understand the significance of your first paragraph, however, I can assure you that no-one on this forum would want their chicken taken by a fox. Everyone makes their runs/coops as safe as possible even if the chicken are not thought of as pets and are for practical egg laying or table purposes. In my opinion if you make your run out of chicken wire and trellis it may look pretty, but you are not making it as safe as possible for your chicken.

Another option would be to invest in green electric poultry fencing. Providing it is working a fox will not go near it. I have kept chicken in this way for the past four years and don’t shut them in at night. I have never lost any chicken to foxes. This gives you the option of moving the chicken house and run to a new spot in the garden to allow the previous area to recover and discourages rats from living under the house.

Sorry Sussex, I just re - read that and I see that comes across very harsh and was not meant the way it sounds. I actually meant they are pets rather than maybe for commercial purposes as some people may have and in my eyes to take on a pet be it a goldfish, chicken or great dane, you take on a responsibility and undertaking to give them the very best of care. Not saying commercial keepers do not but it's a different bond. But the point being made was at my OH for trying to be penny wise and pound foolish over safety of the coop. My fault for posting whilst upset with him.

I am a worrier. If we lose any chooks it will seriously upset me. I am just trying to bolt the stable door before the horse has considered bolting

Do your best pixi dust that's all you can do, everyone who keeps chickens is at risk no matter what security you have. It only takes a Fox seconds to grab a chook, if you free range them there always a chance even with electric fencing! Unless you create a colditz type prison or guard with Rottweilers the risk is there. We all worry or should do! about Fox's I know I do, but relax enjoy your birds. hopefully it won't happen.

Really nice people. Spent ages talking to me and explaining about the house. I am getting one with a green colour to match the shed. Should be here by end of June - maybe by my birthday, but no problem if not.